Report Title: Tools and Resources on Storytelling and Discussing GBV and Women’s Rights with Women and Communities

Author: Emma Bell

1. Introduction

This resource includes a list of tools and resources which offer guidance on how storytelling might be used to explore gender-based violence (GBV) and women’s rights and support women to become more assertive in a safe way. It also includes information about other approaches to discussing sensitive issues with women and communities (including GBV) with a particular focus on faith-based approaches.

2. Methodology

The following methodology was employed:

- Contacting researchers and trainers working on GBV and safeguarding for examples of resources, for example: Julia Gwynne (independent consultant); Erika Fraser (SDDirect); Alice Welbourn (Salamander Trust); Jeanne Ward (independent consultant) and Siobhan Warrington (Oral Testimony Works).

- Search of websites of key organisations working in the field of GBV and women’s rights at the community level, for example: What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls; ActionAid; Womankind Worldwide; World Vision; the Federation for European Storytelling; Girls not Brides; and Raising Voices.

- A search of Google using terms such as ‘know your rights’ AND/OR ‘storytelling’ AND/OR ‘peer support’ AND ‘guides’ AND/OR ‘tools’ AND ‘gender’ AND/OR ‘women’s rights’ AND/OR ‘gender based violence’ (GBV) AND/OR ‘violence against women and girls’ (VAWG) AND ‘faith based’ AND/OR ‘inspired’.

3. Overview

Eight resources were identified that describe approaches to storytelling with vulnerable populations including women refugees that enable them to explore issues such as GBV and women’s rights. They are:

- Ashoka’s Youth Venture – an approach to storytelling through using ‘changemakers’ working globally, including in Indonesia.

- The ‘Jo Blagg’ storytelling approach - developed by the Manchester Theatre in Prisons Project used by Christian Aid in Sierra Leone to discuss issues such as GBV.

- Learning from Intercultural Storytelling (LISTEN) project 2016-2018 - their overview of good practice and training methods.

GBV AoR HELPDESK Research Query

Gender-Based

Violence AoR

- #MeWeSyria - a refugee-led informal education and community engagement platform that utilises storytelling and narrative therapy, linking skill-building with psychosocial well-being.

- Narrative storytelling – a mental health support for women experiencing GBV in

Afghanistan.

- Photovoice - an approach which uses participatory photography and digital storytelling globally, including in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and with Syrian refuges in Jordan.

- Silence Speaks - which uses participatory media, popular education, and testimonies to support the telling of stories (including on GBV) with women in a number of countries such as with refugees in the USA and women in Afghanistan.

- Six-Piece Story-Making - a dramatherapy technique originally developed for children in conflict zones which has also been used with young people and adults.

An additional nine organisations’ programmes (and relevant resources) were identified that describe approaches to working with women and the wider community on issues such as GBV and women’s rights.

Those using a faith-based approach are:

- World Visions’ Channels of Hope (CoH) - a programme that works with faith leaders and communities on issues such as gender, HIV, maternal and child health and child protection. Islamic Relief has also implemented CoH in Pakistan, Mali and Lebanon.

- SASA! Faith - an initiative of raising voices, in which leaders, members and allies of a religion come together to prevent violence against women and HIV. It is based on SASA!’s community mobilisation approach to address the same issues.

- Tearfund’s Transforming Masculinities and community dialogue approach - uses a faith-based approach to work towards gender justice. It has recently been evaluated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

- Christian Aid’s work with faith leaders - challenges harmful traditional practices such as early and forced marriage (EFM) and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Zimbabwe, Brazil and Nigeria.

- Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) best practice - engaging faith actors on GBV in countries such as Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Myanmar.

- The South African Faith and Family Institute’s (SAFFI) domestic violence pastoral/spiritual care training and capacity strengthening model.

Interesting programmes using a non-faith-based approach:

- Theatre for a Change - a combination of drama and participatory learning to help vulnerable women and girls build their confidence, find their voice and assert their rights. Implemented in a number of countries such as in Malawi, Bangladesh, Nepal. Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

- Stepping Stones - a carefully structured programme of group education sessions focused on inter-generational communication and relationship skills in the context of gender and HIV. Implemented in a number of countries such as Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa.

- International Alert’s Zindagii Shoista - a workshop series designed to help promote harmony within families and reduce violence. Implemented in Tajikistan.

A rigorous evidence review of what works to address violence against women and girls that features a number of the examples mentioned in section 4.2 was conducted recently by the DFID Funded What Works to Prevent Violence programme (Kerr-Wilson et al, 2020).

4. Tools and resources

4.1 Approaches to storytelling

Resource A Changemaker’s Eight-Step Guide to Storytelling: How to Engage Heads, Hearts and Hands to Drive Change (2013) by Ashoka Changemakers

Approach title / Organization

Changemakers / Ashoka’s Youth Venture

Approach Ashoka's Youth Venture utilizes the process of storytelling as a vehicle to encourage peer to peer healing, develop ‘changemaker1’ skills, and to encourage youth-led community building. Their guide on storytelling helps people tell their story through eight steps: Step 1. Reflect and build your narrative arc. Step 2. Identify your key audience (i.e. the general public, social innovators, thought leaders, funders) Step 3. Select your core message. Step 4. Choose your story type (i.e. challenge story, big idea, how-to, impact). Step 5. Create your call to action. Step 6. Select your story medium (i.e. written, video, audio, spoken). Step 7. Create an authentic and concrete story. Step 8. Optimize channels for sharing your story.

Additional information

Ashoka Indonesia was founded in 1983 as the second country office after India. They have selected and supported 180 Ashoka Fellows from across Indonesia working on various field: health, education, environment, economy, and civic participation. They are based on Jawa Barat. Email: indonesia@ashoka.org; tel: +62-811 227 201; https://www.ashoka.org/en/country/indonesia Youth Venture website - https://www.ashoka.org/en-gb/youth-venture

Resource Stand Strong: Women and politics in Sierra Leone: Guidance document on methods (2015) by Warrington, S. and Martin, J.

Approach title / Organization

The ‘Jo Blagg’ activity / Christian Aid (pages 6 and 7 of above document)

Approach The ‘Jo Blagg’ activity used in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, by Siobhan Warrington from Oral Testimony Works, has its origins in a much longer drama exercise developed by the Manchester Theatre in Prisons Project. The version used in the Christian Aid assessment focuses mainly on character generation. Fictional characters or scenarios are used to discuss sensitive issues or those which people may consider taboo. It is a tool which enables equal opportunities for participation and no one individual’s personal experience is privileged. Group members are facilitated to develop a fictional character; one who shares aspects of their own identity, but who remains fictional. This enables group members to talk about a range of issues with which they may not have wanted to

1 Ashoka’s Youth Venture® activates youth as changemakers by working with educators, schools, parents, and companies to create an environment where young people can lead and practice the four core ‘changemaker skills’: Empathy, Collaborative Leadership, Fluid Team of Teams Culture, and Changemaking - https://www.ashoka.org/en-bd/program/ashoka-youth-years.

associate personally. For example, while it may not be appropriate to ask individuals to share personal experiences of GBV in the group setting, they can ask whether the character they created - ‘Sao’ ever suffers from domestic violence.

Additional information

More about the ‘Jo Blagg’ activity can be found at: https://www.tipp.org.uk/gallery-02?rq=jo%20blagg Manchester Theatre in Prisons Project - http://www.tipp.org.uk.

Resource #MeWeSyria webpage

Approach title / Organization

#MeWeSyria is a program of #MeWe International Inc

Approach #MeWeSyria is a refugee-led informal education and community engagement platform that leverages processes of storytelling and interpersonal communications as a tool for healing and community building. It borrows from traditions of storytelling and narrative therapy, linking skill-building with psychosocial well-being in an integrated curriculum that relies on experiential and peer-to-peer learning. The #MeWe program for refugee youth focuses on self-awareness, trauma recovery, and restoration of control and agency in a context of perceived powerlessness. The program operates through training ‘replicators’, who are selected by #MeWeSyria staff and local partners, and who adapt the program for people aged 15–24 in their communities. Local community based organizations host #MeWe as part of other youth and community initiatives, thus ensuring sustainability, relevance, and continued engagement of #MeWe beneficiaries after they have been through the program.

Additional information

#MeWe International Inc website - https://meweintl.org/ Articles on the approach include: Integrating storytelling as a tool for healing and community building on the UNHCR website - https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/integrating-storytelling-tool-healing-community-building/ How connecting neuroscience, storytelling, and psychology can create measurable impact for refugee youth. Also on the UNHCR website https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/connecting-neuroscience-storytelling-psychology-can-create-measurable-impact-refugee-youth/

Resource(s) Narrative storytelling as mental health support for women experiencing gender-based violence in Afghanistan (2018) by Mannell et al

Approach title / organization

Narrative Storytelling / Storytelling for Health: Acknowledgement, Expression and Recovery (SHAER)

Approach Narrative storytelling to support women's mental health and alleviate the suffering caused by GBV in high-prevalence settings. It adopts a symbolic interactive approach to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of women living in safe houses for GBV in Afghanistan. A qualitative evaluation of this work found that it can help formulate positive social identities and challenge broader social norms. The supportive conditions that contributed to a positive storytelling experience included the presence of a sympathetic non-judgmental listener and a supportive social environment.

Additional information

The case study is also featured in ‘Responding to trauma during conflict: a case study of gender based violence and traditional story-telling in Afghanistan’ by Ahmad et al, 2018 - https://odihpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HE-72-web.pdf

The authors are part of SHAER - https://www.shaercircle.com/. This project that has established a partnership to explore narrative storytelling as a culturally relevant approach to responding to trauma from GBV against women in high prevalence settings. It brings together academics, poets, civil society organizations, and feminist activists working on GBV in the UK and across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. The partnership includes experts from the medical science (psychiatry, psychology) and humanities (humanitarian ethics, women’s studies, and literature studies). Their aim is to develop a therapeutic approach to GBV-related trauma among women in these settings.

Resource The Learning from Intercultural Storytelling: The LISTEN Manual (2016) by Dickinson et al

Approach title / organization

Learning from Intercultural Storytelling (LISTEN) project 2016-2018

Approach The LISTEN project develops a sustainable storytelling approach for teachers and trainers to develop transferable didactic concepts and methods for refugees. Refugees are encouraged to tell stories which help them to regain a link with their own heritage and identity, using stories as carriers of cultural and historical knowledge and to practice listening and speaking skills to contribute to intercultural communication and integration by building bridges between people. LISTEN provides guidance for professionals and volunteers such as training providers, trainers, multipliers, social workers, organizations, foundations and associations, who work with refugees or migrants in general, who experienced forced migration. LISTEN has been used with refugees in Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Greece, and UK.

Additional information

Website - https://listen.bupnet.eu/ A selection of resources on storytelling can be found at: https://listen.bupnet.eu/storytelling/resources/ An overview of training methods, including good practice examples and actors in the field can be found in Storytelling for Learning with Refugees (2017) by Kommun Skelleftea https://cesie.org/media/LISTEN-Report-on-Storytelling.pdf

Resource Thinking Critically About Photovoice: Achieving Empowerment and Social Change (2018) by Liebenberg, L.

Approach title / organization

PhotoVoice

Approach PhotoVoice is an approach which aims to build a world in which everybody has the opportunity to represent themselves and tell their own story. The organization works in the UK and internationally with individuals, local communities, and partner organizations. They design and deliver tailor-made participatory photography, digital storytelling and self-advocacy projects for socially excluded groups. In 2015 they worked with Mampu (see WRO list) on a program designed to understand and address issues relating to Indonesian women affected by migrant work. They have also worked with people in a range of countries including with young Syrian refugees in Jordan, young people in Sri Lanka and children in Afghanistan.

Additional information

PhotoVoice website - https://photovoice.org/ Programme in Indonesia - https://photovoic e.org/mampu/ Other programs - https://photovoice.org/projects/

Resource(s) Silence Speaks (own stories) website

Guides include ‘The Rights to Her Story’ and ‘Stories to End Violence’

Approach title / organization

Silence Speaks / Story Centre

Approach Silence Speaks develops first-person narratives of struggle, courage, and transformation and works to ensure that these stories play an instrumental role in promoting gender equality, health, and human rights around the world. They use participatory media, popular education, and testimonio practices to support the telling and witnessing of stories that are often unspoken and unheard. The approach has been used in a number of countries to address issues such as GBV. For example:

- In 2017, Silence Speaks began a partnership with Sahiyo United to End FGM/C and convened a digital storytelling workshop with FGM/C survivors living in the U.S.

- Since 2009, the Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWP) has helped hundreds of Afghan women craft essays and poems and share them with the world. These writings enable thousands of readers each month to hear directly from Afghan women on issues of personal, cultural, and political significance.

Additional information

Story Centre website - https://www.storycenter.org/ See case studies - https://www.storycenter.org/ss-case-studies Resources available at - https://www.storycenter.org/shop

Resource Six-Piece Story-Making Revisited (2012) by Lahad, M and Dent-Brown, K

Approach title / creator

The six-part story making technique (6PSM) developed by Mooli Lahad

Approach A dramatherapy technique originally developed for children in conflict zones but it has also been used with young people and adults. The ‘blank slate’ nature of the 6PSM allows a completely new story to be created and told. Using metaphor, imagination and complete poetic license, the individual is free to create the story of their choice. The story addresses relationships, obstacles and how to overcome them. It follows an easy step by step approach to encourage participants to make up a story which could inevitably be about them but within the safe confines of a story. This technique has been used to work with vulnerable refugee women in the UK to support them to write stories for their children that their children illustrate. The stories formed the basis of group discussions about culture, childhood etc.

Additional information

Integrated Treatment Services webpage on 6PSM - https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/our-approaches/arts-therapies-approaches/six-part-story-method-6psm/

• Exploring the 6-Part-Story Method as Performative Reflection (2015) by Vettraino, E. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6300-118-2_6

4.2 Working with women and communities on sensitive issues such as GBV 4.2.1 Faith based approaches

Resource(s) Channels of Hope: Igniting a Movement to Transform Communities (2013) World Vision overview of their CoH program

Approach title / organization

Channels of Hope (CoH) / World Vision

Approach Channels of Hope have curricula on gender, HIV, maternal and child health and child protection. The Gender curriculum is an approach to exploring gender from multiple perspectives with a view towards transforming systems, beliefs, norms and behaviors that tend to have a negative impact on male and female relationships domestically and publicly. The goal of the curriculum is for participants to see God’s perspective of men and women as equals and to treat each other accordingly. The aim is to empower both women and men to celebrate who they are, moves people towards healthier relationships with those of different genders, and reduce GBV. The CoH approach has been implemented in countries such as the Solomon Islands, Uganda and Ethiopia. An evaluation of CoH Gender in the Solomon Islands identified that, over the three-year project, attitudes of community members and church leaders changed regarding women’s rights, including their right to live free of violence (World Vision Solomon Islands, 2015). World Vision have also worked with Islamic Relief Worldwide using the CoH approach to address child protection in Mali, Pakistan, Lebanon. This curriculum has a strong focus on gender and addresses harmful traditional practices that affect girls.

Additional information

The Channels of Hope webpage on the World Vision website - https://www.wvi.org/health/publication/channels-hope The curriculums are not available online. A brief on their gender work is available - Channels of Hope for Gender (2019) - https://www.wvi.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/CoH%20Gender_2019_FINAL.pdf

Resource(s) Engaging Faith Actors on Gender-Based Violence (GBV): Best Practices from the NCA Global GBV programme (2016-2019)

Approach title / organization

Engaging Faith Actors on GBV / Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)

Approach A range of methods are used in the NCA Global GBV program to engage faith actors and religious leaders, such as: providing theological reflection; sensitization on GBV; developing manuals and curricula for constituencies, priests, imams, students and teachers; community conversations and dialogues; declarations on commitments; and capacity building on methods like Reflect, Behaviour Change Communication and Positive Masculinity. The NCA publication provides various examples on methods used and actions taken to support GBV survivors and changing social norms that uphold GBV in different countries such as Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Myanmar. Their work has a strong focus on FGM/C and EFM.

Additional information

Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) website - https://www.kirkensnodhjelp.no/en/

Resource(s) SAFFI’s Gender-based Violence Intervention Programmes: Documenting the Experiences of Religious Leaders and Faith Communities in a South African Context (2017) by Robertson, M. and Getting dirty: Working with Faith Leaders to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence (2017) Peterson, E.

Approach title / organization

The South African Faith and Family Institute’s (SAFFI) Domestic Violence Pastoral/Spiritual Care Training and Capacity Strengthening Model / SAFFI

Approach SAFFI’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of religious leaders and faith communities in addressing issues of GBV in communities and becoming a positive catalyst for change. Such intervention requires both open critique of theological teachings and interrogation of sacred texts. In South Africa SAFFI has done this through workshops, seminars, dialogues and conversation. SAFFI offers technical support to faith communities in developing denominational or faith specific material on prevention and intervention which includes policies and procedural guidelines for working with survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence. Through its work, SAFFI encourages the faith sector to work closely with existing domestic violence service providers and the justice system in providing collaborative community-based initiatives. The intention is that faith leaders are encouraged to dispel any misinterpretation of scriptures and promote sound contextualized faith resources.

Additional information

The SAFFI website - https://saffi.org.za/ For information about SAFFI’s services and projects - https://saffi.org.za/service-and-projects/

Resource(s) SASA! Faith: A guide for faith communities to prevent violence against women and HIV (2016) Raising Voices

Approach title / organization

SASA! / Raising Voices

Approach SASA! Faith is an initiative in which leaders, members and allies of a religion come together to prevent violence against women and HIV. It involves a process of community mobilization—an approach and corresponding activities that engage everyone in living faith-based values of justice, peace and dignity. SASA! Faith is an adaptation of SASA! An Activist Kit for Preventing Violence against Women and HIV, which has been proven to prevent violence against women. SASA! Faith takes the structure, process and content of the original SASA! and adapts it for use in Christian and Muslim communities. Its format is also intended to invite other faith-specific adaptations. SASA! explores the concept of ‘power’ to help create happier, healthier, safer relationships between men and women. It involves walking communities through a process of change. It also involves everyone and engages a critical mass of people across all levels of society in order to create social norm change. SASA! helps staff and community members to reflect on their own lives and relationships before trying to influence others. An adaptation of SASA! in Rwanda – Indashyikirwa – was evaluated and found to have substantial impact on physical and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), with reductions seen 12 and 24 months after the baseline (Dunkle et al., 2019 and Chatterji et al., 2019 cited in Kerr-Wilson et al, 2020)

Additional information

Website: http://raisingvoices.org/sasa-faith/

Information about the original Activist Kit can be found at: http://raisingvoices.org/sasa/

Resource Transforming Masculinities: A training manual for Gender Champions (2017) Deepan, P.

Community Dialogues: Promoting respectful relationships and equitable communities (2016) Deepan, P.

Approach title / organization

Transforming Masculinities and Community Dialogues (using Gender Champions) / Tearfund

Approach Transforming Masculinities works towards gender justice through a gender transformative model, founded in the principles and sacred texts of faiths that value the wellbeing and equality of all human beings. The goal is not to challenge existing gender roles directly, but rather to question the values assigned to those gender-ascribed roles, the gender norms based on unequal power, and the values and status assigned based on people’s gender identities. The aim is to promote positive models for being men and women, for leadership, and for restoring relationships at every sphere of society. Their engagement with faith leaders, and training of ‘Gender Champions’ who then facilitate community dialogues, promote change in individual behavior and social norms on gender and masculinities. The community dialogues are a tool that ‘Gender Champions’ can use to facilitate a series of reflections and dialogues. Their ultimate aim is for individuals to be transformed. This tool will be most effective if used in the context of the Transforming Masculinities approach. The discussion themes are tailored for both women’s and men’s groups, with the expectation they will come together for a joint reflection in week six. The themes are intended to prompt personal reflection and deepen understanding of the topics. This initiative was implemented and evaluated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Seventy-five local faith leaders from Christian and Muslim faith groups (both men and women) were trained by Tearfund in the DRC and encouraged to incorporate what they had learned into their existing activities such as sermons, prayer groups, youth groups, and counselling. An evaluation of the initiative found that rates of VAWG reported as experienced or perpetrated in the past 12 months reduced by more than half between baseline and end-line. (Tearfund, 2019)

Additional information

A quick guide on Transforming Masculinities by Tearfund 92017) is available at: https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/curricula/217-2017-tearfund-transforming-masculinities-quick-guide-en Results of an evaluation are also available - Rethinking Relationships: From violence to equality in the DRC: An evidence brief by Tearfund (2019) - https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/290-what-works-rethinking-relationships-final-march-2019/file This program was developed under the DFID funded What Works to Prevent VAWG program. Information about all the programs evaluated by What Works to Prevent Violence can be found on the website - https://www.whatworks.co.za/resources/vawg-prevention-curricula

Resource Working Effectively with Faith Leaders to Challenge Harmful Traditional Practices (2017) by Palm et al

Approach title / organization

A range of approaches in Zimbabwe, Brazil and Nigeria employed by Christian Aid to address harmful traditional practices including GBV .

Approach The projects discussed include:

- The Collective Action for Adolescent Girls’ Initiative (CAAGI) in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria. The program works on child and early marriage, to enable the education, reproductive health and economic empowerment of adolescent girls. The two-year pilot project began in April 2016 and builds on an innovative community methodology called Gender Empowerment and Development Organising Resource (GEADOR). Its main partners are the Interfaith Mediation Centre, Women Interfaith Council, Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, Gender Awareness Trust and Development & Peace Initiative.

- The Supporting Faith-Based Organisations to address GBV project in Zimbabwe is a three-year pilot that began in 2017 in partnership with Padare Enkundleni Men’s Forum and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (an alliance of 20 denominations) to transform church leaders, church structures and men around damaging social norms.

- The Faith in Action: Promoting Gender Justice in Sao Paulo, Brazil works with local partner Koinonia and established an (inter) Faith Network in 2013 on GBV support and prevention. The Churches tackling gender inequality and promoting rights project works across nine Brazilian dioceses (areas) in partnership with the Anglican Service of Diakonia and Development to improve GBV-related pastoral care, provide theological, GBV and advocacy resources for faith communities, and to coordinate a women’s safe house.

Additional information

Information about Christian Aid’s work with faith leaders available at - https://www.christianaid.org.uk/about-us/programme-policy-practice/our-work-faith-leaders

4.2.2 Non-faith-based approaches

Resource(s) Theatre for a Change (TfaC)

Approach title / organization

Theatre for a Change

Approach TfaC use a combination of drama and participatory learning to help vulnerable women and girls build their confidence, find their voice and assert their rights. Their approaches include:

- Behaviour Change in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) – Physical and practical approaches to building key communication and life skills, and to developing participants’ confidence to use these skills. This workshop series encourages participants to actively identify and explore patterns of behavior that put them at risk and develop sustainable strategies to achieving the changes they want to make.

- Interactive Theatre for Behaviour Change – A dynamic community engagement approach which enables participants to tell their stories and change the attitudes and behaviors of their peers around key SRHR topics.

- Interactive Theatre for Justice – An advocacy approach which enables marginalized groups to tell their stories of injustice to power holders, and work with them during the performance to create pathways to justice which can be implemented in the community.

- Legislative Theatre – A type of Interactive Theatre which enables marginalized groups to voice their concerns and requests to policy makers and legislators for improved protection and prevention from abuse.

- Interactive Radio Drama – A behavior change and advocacy approach which enables marginalized groups to devise radio serial dramas that involve the audience in trying out different approaches for a positive change in the story live on air – whether that is a change in attitude, behavior, or in reporting and prosecuting abuses of rights.

- Participatory Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation – Measuring behavior and normative change through activities like sculpting, mapping, improvisation and touch tag.

TfaC works in Bangladesh, the DRC, Eswatini, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand and the UK.

Additional information

Evaluations can be found at - https://www.tfacafrica.com/impact/

Resource(s) Stepping Stones: Training Packages on Gender Communication and HIV (2017) Welbourn, A.

Approach title / organization

Stepping Stones / various organizations have used this approach.

Approach Stepping Stones is a carefully structured program of group education sessions focused on inter-generational communication and relationship skills in the context of gender and HIV. The original Stepping Stones is to be used with adults and adolescents 15 years of age and older (a version is now available for children). Groups of young men, young women, older men, and older women work through the sessions separately and together. Session topics include HIV, understanding our own and others’ behavior, IPV, and how gender and generation influence the power dynamics in our relationships, among others. Stepping Stones has been evaluated in countries such as India, Gambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda and Fiji. In South Africa the evaluation showed a significant reduction in young men’s perpetration of IPV at endline although there is less evidence that women’s experiences of IPV reduced (Jewkes et al., 2008; Kerr-Wilson et al, 2020)

Additional information

A wealth of information on Stepping Stones and where and how it has been used as well as access to a community of practice can be found at - https://steppingstonesfeedback.org/

Resource(s) Zindagii Shoista Living with Dignity: Workshop Manual (2018) Jewkes et al

Approach title / organization

Zindagii Shoista / International Alert

Approach Zindagii Shoista is a workshop series designed to help promote harmony within families and reduce violence. By considering wider family dynamics when working with local communities, it aims to create a socio-economic environment that enables women to enjoy greater protection from GBV, with a focus on VAWG. The workshop comprises two parts: social empowerment; and economic empowerment. The workshops address questions of gender, relationships, family conflict, violence and communication.

In Tajikistan, Zindagii Shoista showed that women’s experiences and men’s perpetration of IPV declined significantly, and the reductions were sustained 30 months after baseline, which was 15 months after the intervention and support had been completed (Mastonshoeva et al., 2019 cited in Kerr-Wilson et al, 2020).

Additional information

Information about the program and supporting resources can be found at: https://www.international-alert.org/publications/zindagii-shoista-living-dignity-workshop-manual This programme was developed under the DFID funded What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls programme. Information about all the programme evaluated by What Works to Prevent Violence can be found on the website - https://www.whatworks.co.za/resources/vawg-prevention-curricula

References

Ahmad, A., Ahmad, L. and Mannell, J. (2018) ‘Responding to trauma during conflict: a case study of gender based violence and traditional story-telling in Afghanistan’ in Humanitarian Practice Network ‘Special feature: Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian crises.’ Humanitarian Exchange. Number 72 July https://odihpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HE-72-web.pdf

Ashoka (2013) A Changemaker’s Eight-Step Guide to Storytelling: How to Engage Heads, Hearts and Hands to Drive Change. Ashoka http://www.changemakers.com/sites/default/files/a_changemakers_guide_to_storytelling_12_10_13.pdf

Bezzolato, E. Deepan, P. O’Sullivan, V. et al (2019) Rethinking Relationships: From violence to equality in the DRC: An evidence brief. Tearfund https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/290-what-works-rethinking-relationships-final-march-2019/file

Deepan, P. (2017) Transforming Masculinities: A training manual for Gender Champions. Tearfund

Deepan, P. (2016) Community Dialogues: Promoting respectful relationships and equitable communities. Tearfund https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/curricula/212-2016-tearfund-community-dialogues-en

Dickinson, C., Bekiaridis, G. and Busche, J. et al (2016) Learning from Intercultural Storytelling: The LISTEN Manual. The „Listen“ Project https://cesie.org/media/LISTEN_Training_Manual_EN.pdf

Jewkes, R. and Jama-Shai, N. (2018) Zindagii Shoista Living with Dignity: Workshop Manual. What Works to Prevent Violence among Women and Girls Global Programme, South African Medical Research Council, Cesvi and International Alert https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/curricula/221-tajikistan-livingwithdignity-pt1-en-2018-final/file

Jewkes, R., Nduna, M., Levin, J. et al (2008) ‘Impact of Stepping Stones on incidence of HIV and HSV-2 and sexual behaviour in rural South Africa: Cluster randomised controlled trial.’ BMJ, 337, a506.

Kerr-Wilson, A., Gibbs, A.,McAslan Fraser E. et al (2020). A rigorous global evidence review of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. What Works to Prevent Violence among Women and Girls Global Programme https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/374-evidence-reviewfweb/file)

Kommun Skelefftea (2017) Storytelling for Learning with Refugees. European Union (EU) https://cesie.org/media/LISTEN-Report-on-Storytelling.pdf

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